Waimea United Church of Christ

Luke 15:1-10“Lost & Found”

First, I
lost the actual text to this sermon, and so I need your help in finding it for
me so we can know what it is that Jesus would have on our hearts and minds this
day. (Look for pieces of scripture and put them together like a puzzle and read
it aloud.)

Just to
make sure we know who is who in today’s reading, I would like to ask for some
volunteers to come forward and play the “Who is who?” game. I will just put a
name of a person from the story on your back, and by asking questions to the
congregation you will have to tell me who it is that you are supposed to be.

The reason
I really wanted to play that last game has to do with the first verse of the
scripture. You see, Jesus notes that some sinners and tax collectors happen to
be there with him. We read this and rarely stop to think about the basic
question, “How do you know the person standing next to you is a sinner?”
Sinners do not come with little name badges, or even signs on their backs! Only
once have I ever seen a bumper sticker that said “sinner” on it. It was a nice
bumper sticker with a little red devil on it.

I was
thinking that since I always seem to be being tailgated, and have even been hit
by a tailgater in the past, I should put that sticker on the back of the church
van. Nobody would want to get too close to me if I had that sign on the van!

So it was
back then that nobody wanted to get too close to sinners. The Pharisees
themselves do not understand why Jesus is spending time with sinners. He even
takes his evening meals with them. In those days, people thought that sin could
literally rub off of one person onto another—you know, like you get warts or
athlete’s foot. Good religious folk were therefore expected to keep a fair
distance from people of ill repute.

We still
kind of think this way today, dare I say it. Oh, I remember once when I was the
pastor of the church in Washington and serving as a volunteer fire fighter
there. We were called to attend to a heart attack victim that happened to
collapse at the local bar in town. Believe it or not, I heard about this later:
“Oh Pastor, you went into the bar!” Strange, no? What was I supposed to do? Let
the guy die? Well, actually he did die, but not because we did not try to save
him! We all die after all.

I am
getting off track, and so were the Pharisees in those days. They thought Jesus
was a sinner because he helped sinners. They did not complete the thought in
their minds “Jesus helps sinners to repent.” No, they were too busy grumbling.
Grumble, grumble, grumble. They loved to talk with their two lips stuck
together in the front. Murmur, murmur, murmur. Please, do not be like them.
Only ever speak truth in love.

What is
super clear in the Greek, but is missing in English is that Jesus actually
blames the Pharisees for the sinners being sinners in the first place. In the
parable of the lost sheep that Jesus proceeds to relate to the Pharisees there,
we have to note that the word for “lost” is actually “let loose” or
απολυω. Therefore the one lost sheep is really
the one sheep that was let loose. So, the sinners are sinners because the
Pharisees have let them loose to sin. Got it? Well, how did they do that? They
were forced to work on the Sabbath because of the Pharisees who employed them
and did not pay enough. They perhaps stole food, because the ones who had
enough food did not share with the needy. I think you get the idea. The
Pharisees are supposed to show some responsibility or moral obligation, and they
have not. In fact, you could make an argument that the Pharisees are the true
sinners here. They are the ones that enforce the cycle of sin that people are
then caught up in.

Jesus asks
the Pharisees, “Which one of you that had a hundred sheep would not go after
the one that has been let loose?” The Pharisees must have like the idea of
having a hundred sheep. Jesus seems to know who to grab their attention. Who
would not want to have that much wealth? This leads me to think that Jesus knew
that there were some Pharisees that really did understand their responsibility
to go after that one who has been let loose to sin. Why else would Jesus be
telling this parable to them?

Would you?
If you had a hundred sheep, would you go after the one that was lost? Most
people I asked this question to honestly answered ”no.” We would all tend to
the 99 remaining sheep that also need our care. Right? Life is all about
playing the odds, right? One percent is acceptable “shrinkage” in a business
enterprise like this.

This
reminds me of the story of Sam Whitney, one of the missionaries who came in
1820 to Waimea. Well, he almost did not come to Waimea because he was
technically lost at sea as the story goes.The missionary couple (Sam and Mercy) were assigned work on board the
brig Thaddeus as part of the payment for passage. Sam was on a board that was
lowered over the side of ship so that he could apply varnish. He lost his
balance and ended up in the ocean while the ship was under full sail. One of
the sailors fortunately threw him a bench so that he could grab on to float.

Okay,
Samuel Whitney was only one person lost off a ship. Plenty other people on
board. Besides, turning a ship around off that size while under sail was very
difficult indeed. Yet, they went back for him, and we are still enjoying today
the church that he built. He laid the foundation stones of our church building.

So, that is
the point isn’t it? Jesus was not talking about sheep at all! Jesus was talking
about real people. If a person is lost, you go out and look for him. And,
certainly if you would go out and look for a sheep, you would have to go out
and look for a person too. That makes sense.

Jesus goes
on to say that when the sheep is found, the shepherd will put the sheep on his
back and carry it to the rest of the flock. That is a great description of the
burden that we carry for our brothers and sisters. It is like that song: “He’s
not heavy; he’s my brother!” Except, as noted before, I used to be a
firefighter, and we would practice carrying each other in training in the event
that one of us would fall and need to be evacuated to safety. It really is hard
to lift someone else by putting him on your back. I am sure that I was the
lightest of all my firefighting buddies, too!

We must learn
to carry the burden of helping our brothers out of their state of being
lost—especially if we in any way let them to sin in the first place! Then, once
we are all back together in God’s good graces, in that state of repentance,
then we can celebrate!

Jesus does
not stop with that one parable. He goes on to tell of the lost coin that a
woman searches the entire house for. Now, I find coins all the time wherever I
go. People do not even pick up coins anymore. They think that it is not worth
bending over for, I guess.

Do you know
that there is a fellow in our church that has been bending over looking for
nails in the lawn in front of the church for the last I don’t know how many
years? I am assuming the nails came from the last hurricane, Iniki, when the
structurewas severely damaged and then
rebuilt. Nonetheless, Mike M. has been looking for nails to save your tires
ever since. Or, maybe even to save you from getting a rusty nail in your foot
and dying from tetanus.Thank you Mike
for just looking out for us!

Many
biblical scholars believe that the coin that the woman is looking for in this
parable is not just any single coin, one out of ten, but rather that coin which
a wife kept in her phylactery after marriage that was a sign that she was now
redeemed by her husband in the sight of Jewish Law. So, today this would be
like a woman who has ten rings in her jewelry box but has somehow misplaced the
one given to her at marriage.

We know
from other parts of the Bible that money had little allure to Jesus at all. He
was always saying things like “give unto Caesar what is his” and “give up all
you have and follow me.” (That was last week’s scripture, remember?) So, we are
truly led to think that this coin was not just another bit of money. It had
greater meaning.

Again, when
you find your redemption, you rejoice and share the moment with your friends.
Alleluia, Jesus paid the price for my soul. I have been redeemed by the blood
of the Lord. Jesus paid it all.

Jesus told
me that I am not just the name that someone else has pinned on my back. Jesus
searched me out. Jesus finds my heart. I am rescued by him—redeemed unto His
kingdom. I am the sheep of his fold!